Anatoly Timofeivich Zverev, Russian (1931-1986)

Anatoly Zverev was born in Moscow in 1931. He studied at the Institute of the 1905 Revolution but was expelled for his "formalist" tendencies. In the 1960s Zverev was known for his refined artistic taste and extraordinary artistic abilities. In 1965 he exhibited more than a hundred paintings at the Motte Gallery in Geneva, which at the time constituted one of the largest solo shows by an unofficial Soviet artist in the West. Zverev's art is representative of Russian Expressionism; while severely reduced, it remains figurative and recognizable. Zverev's works can be found in many major collections such as Costakis Collection in Greece, Cremona Foundation in Maryland and the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Zverev died in Moscow in 1986. Anatoly Zverev, now considered a national treasure and whom Picasso referred to as Russia's finest living artist.

Valentin llich Vorobiev, Russian (b.1938)

Valentin Vorobiev is one of the leaders of Soviet unofficial art from the 1960s-1970s. In 1961, together with the writers Constantin Paustovsky and Boris Balter, Vorobiev organized the first unofficial art exhibition in Tarusa, where he exhibited the works of several Moscow artists. He was also one of the organizers and a participant in the eponymous Bulldozer and lzmailovo exhibitions. As early as the 1960s, Vorobiev had created his own expressive style, which in France later became known as Figuration libre. Vorobiev is also known as the founder of the French art movement Art-Cloche; as well as this, he initiated 'open studios', which became an annual event from the mid-1980s onwards.

Vladimir Nikolaevich Nembukhin, Russian (1925-1999)

Vladimir Nemukhin is one of the founders of the Lianozov group. In 1974 he was involved in the 'Bulldozer Exhibition' and acted as go-between in negotiations with the authorities and he joined the Lianozov group. Nemukhin carries on the tradition of the Russian avant-garde. He calls the basis of his abstract compositions 'Russian cubo-futurism'. His compositions include collages, which often contain playing cards. He frequently painted using mixed media, a painting-graphic technique as it were, as well as on paper (the Jack of Diamonds series from the end of the 1960's through to the start of the 1970's). The assimilation of the picture with the subject brought his work close to the decade of the 1980's with its pop-art. During this period he often turned to three-dimensional sculptural abstractions, biomorphic or geometrical (the 'compositions-dedications' series) and then, as he increasingly began exhibiting his own work, the painting and graphic plates were accompanied by large illustrations. In recent years, in addition to his series of paintings and graphical works, the artist has begun to create sculptures. He also works with ceramic ware, paying homage to the traditions dating back to the time of Malevich, Chashnik and others. His suprematic compositions on plates also burn with red and black. A book entitled 'Nemukhin monologues' was published in 1999 containing the artist's reflections as recorded by M. Uralski. From the end of the 1960's onwards, his paintings have also gained increasing recognition in the West, although at that time the artist was living in Moscow and Priluki. At the turn of the millennium, he was spending most of his time in Dusseldorf, Germany, continually travelling back to Russia.

Oskar Yakovlevich Rabin, Russian (b.1928)

Oskar Rabin's work, celebrated in the West as 'Solzhenitsyn in painting', honestly and eloquently reflected the mood in society during the 1960's and 1970's. An outstanding master with a deeply individual way of seeing the world, Oskar Rabin was one of the originators of non-conformism and one of the organizers of the 'Lianozovo Group' which grew up around Evgeny Kropivnitski. Over a period of seven years {1958-1965), the former camp barracks in Lianozovo, where Oskar Rabin lived with his wife, Valentina Kropivnitskaya, acted as the center of the progressive intelligentsia. Surrounded by his family, life in a Moscow suburb with 'ignoble' objects from everyday Soviet material life and its dramatic absurdity was for many years the central theme of Rabin's creativity. The artist's favorite genres included landscape, still-life and interiors, continuing in the tradition of 1920's European expressionism. Trying to imbue his painting with a social-critical tone and bring out the 'anti-humanity' of modern man's environment, Rabin uses a distortion of perspective, the principals of deformation and the destruction of large-scale relationships. Through his emotionally saturated style, as well as his laconic manner, Rabin interweaves different genres and artistic devices, elements of collage and assemblage are introduced into the paintings. The drama of the works is highlighted by chronological 'markers', denoted by fragments of newspapers, stickers and labels. The uncorrupted truth of life, seen by the communist authorities as dissidence, released from the chains social-realism, was cause for Oskar Rabin to lose his Soviet citizenship. Moving to Paris in 1978, he gained there new inspiration and international recognition.

Valentina Kroninmuchkaya, Russian

Vladimir lgorevich Yakovlev, Russian (1934-1998)

Vladimir Yakovlev was born into an artistic family - his grandfather M. Yakovlev was an artist too. He didn't get a professional art education, but in the sos he worked as retoucher in "The lskusstvo" {Art) publishing house in Moscow and later attended the lessons of the famous Non-artist V.Ya. Sitnikov. His contact with artists belonging to the "Other Art" group formed his artistic principles. The international exhibitions that were organized within the framework of the 1957 International Youth Festival provided a decisive impulse for him to concentrate on painting. In the late SOs Yakovlev tried his hand at Abstract art but his style proved to be at its best in small Figurative compositions painted mainly in gouache. His subjects are simple: flowers and people, sometimes animals and landscapes. However, what impresses most of all is the emotions expressed by the color pattern and sharp contrasts making it possible to convey lyric and dramatic elements in one image. Yakovlev's "primitive" art did not mean that he was not skilled in academic painting. Rather it reflects his wish to expose the spiritual pivot of an object and turn it into a sign. The artist's mental ill health reinforced his artistic vision. It was as if Yakovlev was physically incompatible with the oppressive Soviet regime. From 1945 onwards he spent long periods in mental clinics and after his mother's death in 1983 moved into a neurological boarding house. Also he was rapidly losing his eyesight, which was partly restored in the 90s. Paradoxically, he created his best works when he was almost blind. Yakovlev's work was a unique example of genuine art stemming from outsider status.